Dating attachment for packaging machines



JUIIG 23, I M H, KERN DATING ATTACHMENT FOR PACKAGING MACHINES Filed May 14, 1930 INVENTOR ATTORNEY.

Patented June 23, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MAXIMILIAN H. KERN, OF RICHMOND HILL, NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO ROBERTS NUMBERING MACHINE COMPANY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK DATING ATTACHMENT FOR PACKAGING MACHINES App1ic' .tion filed May I l, 1930. Serial No. 452,200.

The invent-ion relates to dating attachments for packaging machines and more pa rticularly to a device adapted to be applied to a part of the mechanism for forming a box or carton preparatory to the filling of samewith merchandise, for the purpose of impressing upon this boX or carton data indicating when the goods were packed therein.

In the production of such boxes or cartons, it is necessary to fold and paste the flaps closing the bottom thereof while the carton is upon a form, and difficulty has been experienced in providing a mechanism which will lcgibly impress the desired data upon each box or carton during a continued long run of the packaging machine.

Since the impressing o f the data in the manner above referred to, is for the purpose of avoiding false claims as to the quality of merchandise contained in the box or carton, legibility in the marking is highly desirable.

The dating attachment of the invention is so constructed as to be operatively connected with a part of the mechanism for folding and sealing the bottom flaps of the box or carton, the Construction of the mechanism being such that it may be adjusted to locate the impression in a desired position upon the side of the carton and thus avoid all possibility of the fouling of different parts of the mechanism due to the presence of glue or other adhesive adjacent the point where the impression is made.

The construction of the mechanism is such as to admit of the various parts being so set as to compensate for the are described by the part of the machine to which the mechanism is attached, and to afford a clear field of action for the attachment, remote from those mechanisms operative in folding and sealing the bottom flaps of the box or carton.

The construction and arrangement of the parts of the attachment are such that ordinary typewriter ribbon through which an impression is made may be employed. .neans being provided by which there is an automatic, step by step ad vancemcntof the ribbon across the face of the printing members and an automatic reversal of the direction of the feeding of the ribbon before the exhaustion of the supply of ribbon on either of the spools. The use of a ribbon ensures the making of a clean legible impression, but what is more important, avoids all of those mechanical complications in the attachment incidental to the employment of a separate inking mechanism associated with the type members.

My present nvention relates more particularly to the detailed construction of the attachment by which it may be accurately adjusted in relation to the member supporting same and to the form supporting the box or carton during the closing and sealing of the bottom flaps thereof. and to the particular mechanism for automatically actuating the ribbon feed mechanism.

The invention consists primarily in a dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a shaft, a head, means con-- necting said head to said shaft, printing characters carried by said head, a ribbon feed mechanism carried by and movable with said head, a rod, a spacer bar, means adjustably connecting said spacer bar with said rod, and means whereby said bar may be rigidly connected with an oscillatory lever forming a part of a package forming machine; and in such other novel features oi. construction and combination of parts as are hereinafter set forth and described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

Referring to the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side view of a dating attachment for packaging machines embodying the invention, showing the form upon which the box or carton is mounted. and a lever carrying a folding roller operative upon a box or carton upon said form, said lever supporting and actuating the attachment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the printing head of the attachment and the supports therefor;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view broken away to disclose the ribbon feed and reversing mechanism; and

Fig. 4 is a front view of the printing head of the attachment. partly broken away.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views.

The dating attachment of the invention is to be produced as a separate article of manufacture for attachment to a packaging ma chine of old and well known construction and forming no part of the present invention.

The detailed construction of the att achment is such as to permit its application and ad justment in relation to mechanisms of the packaging machine, or to existing condit ions in a machine to which the mechanism of the attachment must conform. This condition requires not only the employment of means by which the attachment may be mounted upon a movable part of the machine, but by which the printing mechanism may be adjusted with relation to the lever arm of the machine carrying same and the form upon which the box or carton blank is mounted, to ensure a proper printing contact of the printing members with a box or carton upon said form and the making of the impression in a desired position upon the side of the box 1 or carton. Provision must also be made by which the type carrying head may be set at an angle to ensure a. proper engagement of the types with the b0\' or carton notwithstanding the arcuate movement of the head due to the movements of the folding lever supporting the attachment as a whole.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown only those parts of the box or carton forming machine co-operating with the at tachment of the invention, since other details of this machine are immaterial to the invention and are well known.

In the drawings, the form for receiving the box or carton blank is shown at 10, and one of the levers for folding the bottom flaps of the blank is shown at 11, this lever being pivoted at 12. The blank proper is shown at 13.

The attachment. proper comprises a rod '14, surmounting which is a head-15 carrying the printing characters and a ribbon feeding mechanism, to be more fully described hereinafter.

The head 15 is carried by a shaft 16 adjustably mounted in a clamp 17 attached to the rod 14 by means of a stud 18, about the axis of which the clamp may be adjusted.

The rod 14 passes through an opening in the stud 18. a washer 19 being interposed between said rod and the clamp 17, so that with the tightening of said clamp, by means of the screw 20, the rod 16 and head 15 may be secured in any adjusted position. As will more fully appear hereinafter, the clamp 17 is used for three purposes in addition to the attachment of the head to the rod 14 these purposes being to permit turning of the shaft to bring the head in a horizontal plane to permit the angular adjustment of the head to compensate for the arcuate movement thereof resulting from the oscillations of the lever 11 and to permit the adjustment of the head toward and from the form 10. All of these adj ustlnents supplement other adjustments in the attachmentand are used ordinarily to correct conditions resulting in an improper imprint, without disturbing other :uljustments in the attachment.

The rod 11 is connected with the lever 11 by means of a spacer bar 21, connected to said lever by meansof clamp members 22 fitted to said rod and tightened by means of the screw 23 cooperating with screw threads upon the end of the bar 21. The rod 1-1 is adjustable along the spacer bar 21 toward and from the lever 11, radially of said bar and about an axis perpendicular to the axis of said bar, the purpose of which adjustments will more fully appear hereinafter.

The connection between the rod 11 and the spacer bar 21 consists of a clamp member 24, the jaws of which embrace and seat upon the rod 14. This clamp member is pivotally mounted upon a stud 25 having an opening therein through which the spacer bar 21 passes. A washer 26 is positioned between the bar 21 and one of the clamp members 24. The clamp members are closed upon the rod 14, and the stud 25 is immovably secured to the bar 21 by means of the bolt 27 co-opera-ting With the stud 25 and acting against one 'of the clamp members 24. The general construction of the clamp 24 is the same as that of the clamp 17, and so far as its adjustment about the stud 25 is concerned, is the same as the adjustment of the clamp 17 about the stud 18, although these clamps are used under different conditions, and at times, for differentpurposes.

It is obvious that with the clamp mechanism 24 and the stud 25, the head and all of its appurtenances may be-adj usted by a rotary movement toward and from the form 10. and may also be adjusted circumfereutially of the bar 21.

The clamp mechanism 24 is used mainly for adjusting the 10 -ation of the imprint upon the box or carton blank 13, the clamp 17 being used for the adjustment of the head in determining the quality or strength of the impression made. and for correcting any undesired setting of the head due to adjustments by means of the clamp 24.

'By the use of the two clamps, the shaft 16, the rod 11 and the spacer bar 21, universal ad' justability of the head may be secured, and Within a more or less limited range the imprint may be located at any desired point of the box form 13. The clamp 22 may also be used for raising or lowering the head, although ordinarily the length of the rod 14 is such as to permit any adjustments, for determining the locating of the imprint vertically of the box or carton. to be accomplished by means of the clamp 21.

Mounted in the head 15 are a plurality of type, wheels 28 similar to those used in an ordinary numbering head and acted upon by of said wheels.

detent pawls to preventaccidental rotation This construction is used since it desirable, in the attachment, to change the character of the impressions made at intervals so as to indicate a change in the date indicated upon the box. The wheels 28 are manually set.

Carried by the head 15'are laterally exten ded plates 29 between which the type wheels 28 are positioned. Mounted adjacent the opposite ends of said plates 29 are ribbon carriers 30 and 31, including ratchet wheels, the teeth of which are oppositely set. These carriers 30 and 31 are adapted to receive spools carrying ordinary typewriter ribbon. The head 15 is provided with a face plate 232 through which the type wheels 28 project. This plate serves as a guide for a ribbon passing from one carrier 30 to the other carrier 31. The ribbon spools 33 and 3t are mounted, in any desired manner, upon the carriers 30 and 31 as by means of two screws 35 and 36 presented upwardly of the head in order to facilitate the mounting and removal of the carriers 30 and 31 in their entirety when changing the ribbon spools.

Slidably mounted upon theishat't 16 is a carriage 37 carrying a spring rod 38, the spring 39 of which is seated between the lug 10 upon the carriage and a stop member 41 adjustably mounted upon said shaft 16. The stop memberdl limits the movement of the spring rod 38 toward the. form 10 and also controls the tension of the spring 39. The rod 38 extends forwardly of the plate 32. Mounted upon the carriage 37 are two pawls 42 and 43, one of which is adapted to cooperate with the ratchet wheel upon the carrier 30, and the other of which is adapted to co-operate with the ratchet wheel upon the carrier 31. Each of these pawls is provided with a heel such as 41 and 45 connected by a spring 16 having a normal tendency to project said pawls or either of them into the operative position in relation to the ratchet of the carrier with which the pawl co-operates. Mounted upon the carrier 37, adjacent and between pawls 42 and 43 is an oscillatory plate 47 carrying upwardly projecting pins 48 and 49 upon opposite sides of the pivot upon which said plate turns. Carried by said plate and projecting through same into and engaging with said carriage 37 is a retard device 50, the function of which is to prevent accidental pivotal movement of the plate.

Carried by the head 15 are two thrust members 51 and52, which members are pivotally mounted upon said head and provided with projecting plates 53 and 54, adapted to be engaged by the ribbon accumulated upon either spool when the diameter of the ribbon upon that spool has increased to a point where a reversal in the direction of the feed of the ribbon is necessary. These thrust members are acted upon by a spring 55 extended from one to the other, which spring has a normal tendency to move both thrust members toward each other ancient of their operative relation to the pins 48 and 19. One arm of these thrust members is so formed as to limit the extent of oscillatory movement of the member in one direction and maintain it in a position where it will engage the stud with which it co-operates when the thrust member has been so set by the engagement of the ribbon therewith, as to be in such engaging relation.

The operation of the herein described device is as follows:

TVhen mounting the attachment upon a machine, one of the jaws of the clamp 22 is removed from the spacer bar, and the bar is passed through an opening in the lever 11, the removed clamp member being restored and set upon said lever by means of the nut 23. The tightening of the nut 23 will hold the spacer bar firmly upon the lever. If desired, the clamp 22, before tightening the nut 23, may be raised or lowered upon said lever so as to secure an approximation of the desired elevation of the head 15' and the printing elements carried thereby, in order to place the impression at a desired point upon the box or carton blank 13 vertically thereof. The clamps 21 and 17 are then loosened slightly so as to permit relative movement of said clamps, the rod 14, the spacer bar 21 and the shaft 16. This loosening of the clamps will also permit angular adjustment thereof upon the studs 18 and 25 respectively.

If it be found necessary to adjust the head 15 laterally of the box, this may be done by turning the clamp 24 about the spacer bar 21. If this lateral adjustment be material, the head 15 will be moved out of a horizontal plane, and to correct this condition it is necessary to turn the shaft 16 in the clamp 17. This lateral adjustment of the head may vary the vertical position of the head from the adjustment secured by means of the clamp 22, and to correct this condition, the rod 14 may he raised in the clamp 24.

Following the above adjustments, the clamp 24 may be moved along the rod 21 toward or from the lever 22, so as to bring the type members 28 into approximately their printing position, the lever 11 being moved to its full extent to the left, Fig. 1, so as to determine what this position will be.

The above adjustments will secure an approximate setting of the head, but other adjustments may be necessary. For example, owing to the leverage developed by the rod 21 under the control of the lever 11, the head will rise in its movement toward the form 21, in addition to having a rocking movement toward said form. This compound movement will more than sutlice to compensate for the are described by the head when it is actuated by the lever, and must be taken into account when setting the rod 14 for securing the desired height of the impression or its desired distance from the bottom of the box or carton.

The action of the lever 11, and the component of horizontal movement of the rod .14 and the head 15, as a result of this action, may require a setting of the head, out of the horizontal position to a degree which will result in its being brought into a horizontal position at the end of this movement of the type by turning the clamp 17 about the stud 18. 1f the head is not upon a horizontal plane when making the imprint there will be a shading of the imprint or a failure of the top or bottom of the types to make any impression whatever.

All these adjustments may best be made with the lever at the limit of its throw to the left, as shown in Fig. 1, since when in this position, all the settings may be made with regard to the position of the type members in relation to the portion of the box where it is desired to make the impression,

and the various parts may be moved to secure this positioning of the type members while the clamps 24 and 17 are slightly loosened.

When a proper setting has been secured, the nuts 20 and 27 are tightened, thus firmly securing the clamp 17 to the shaft 16, and the stud 18 to the rod 14. The tightening of the nut 27 will firmly secure the clamp 24 to the rod 14, and the stud 25 to the spacer bar 21, thus maintaining the adjustment during the continued operation of the attachment.

When power is applied to the packaging machine, as a bottom flap on each box 18 folded under the form 10 by the rockmg of the lever 11, the attachment of my inventlon, in its entirety, is moved toward said form until the type members reach the printing posit-ion, and impress the characters upon the wheels 28 through the ribbon, which is shown at 56.

During the movement of the attachment toward the form 10, one of the pawls 42 or 43 will be engaged with a ratchetof one of s the carriers 30 or 31, but just prior to the making of an impression the end of the spring rod 38 will engage the blank 13 upon the form 10, thus arresting movement of the carriage 37 the head 15 and shaft 16 continuing their movement thus tensioning the spring 39 through the stop member 41. This arresting of the movement of the carriage 37 disengages the pawl from the ratchet upon the ribbon spool carrier. I

By reason of the rod 14 being spaced away from the lever 11, the movement of the head 15 will not be in a true arc, but will have in it the component of two arcuate movements, one of the lever 11 and the other of the spacer bar 21, and these movements will vary acl' cording to the setting of the attachment for the purpose of giving a desired location to the imprint. It is for this reason that the various adjustments are provided in the attachment. This condition is not desirable, but is unavoidable.

After the making of the imprint, or upon the return oscillation of the lever 11, the spring 39, acting against the stop 41, forces the carriage 37 along the shaft 16 so as to engage the pawl, then in the operative relation to a ratchet wheel, with said ratchet wheel and turn the carrier one notch to feed the ribbon from one spool to the other.

In the attachment of the present application, the feeding of the ribbon is accomplished by means of a mechanism movable with the head 15 during a part of the movements of this head, but movable in relation thereto during other parts of the movement for the purpose of causing the setting of the the pawls in relation to the ratchet wheels, both for turning said ratchet wheels and for actuating the ribbon reversing mechanism.

\Vhen the spool upon one of the carriers, as 30, reaches the maximum diameter permissible before it is necessary to reverse the feed of the ribbon, it will engage a plate, as 53, carried by a thrust member, as 51, and oscillate this thrust member about its pivot. ,lVhen this occurs, the pawl 42 will be in engagement with the ratchet upon the carrier 30 so that the end of the thrust member will pass beind one of the pins, as 48, which will ride under the thrust member as the head 15 advances in relation to the carriage 37, the thrust member however remaining in a position so that the movement of the carriage by the spring 39 will cause the thrust memher to turn the plate 47 which, by engagement with the heel 44 of the pawl 42, will oscillate this pawl out of its operative relation to the ratchet wheel of the carrier 30 and permit the spring 46 to move the other pawl 43 into operative relation to its cooperating ratchet wheel upon the carrier 31.

The movements of the lever 11 are rapid, and the inertia of the spring 39 will prevent a rapid movement of the carriage 37 since the end of the spring rod 38 will ordinarily be disengaged from the box blank 13 rather than remain in such engagement. In other words, under ordinary conditions the shaft 16 and head 15, when moving toward the form 10, will have movement in relation to the carriage 37, but upon the return movement the carriage 37 will ordinarily have movement in relation to the shaft 16 and the head 15. If the lever 11, however, has a slow movement, this condition may not exist.

In Fig. 3 of the drawings the position of parts shown is that on the stroke immediately before that at which the actuation of the ribbon reversing mechanism occurs, the dotted lines showing the position of parts when the carriage 37 and head are moving in unison, and the full lines showing the position of parts during the printing interval. In Fig. 2, I have shown the position of parts upon the completion of the return movement, or movement to the right, Fig. 1, and while out of the printing position.

The stop member 41, in addition to forming a seat carried by the shaft 16 for the spring 39, also forms a bearing carried by theshaft 16 for the rod 38, the purpose of which bearing is to prevent rotation of the carriage 37 about the shaft 16.

The thrust members 51 and 52 are made of spring metal so as to permit them to ride over the pins or studs 48 and 49 in the manner above described.

It is not my intention to limit the invention to the precise details of construction and arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawings, it being apparent that such may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to have protected by Letters Patent, is

1. A dating attachment for packagin machines embodying therein a shaft, a hea carried thereby, a rod, means connecting said shaft to said rod, printing characters carried by said head, a ribbon feed mechanism mova l latory lever forming a part of a package forming machine.

2. A dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a shaft, a head carried. thereby, a rod, a clamp carried by said rod and engageable with said shaft, whereby said shaft may be axially adjusted, printing characters carried by said head, a ribbon feed mechanism movable with said shaft and said head, a spacer bar, means adj ustably conmeeting said spacer bar with said rod, and means whereby said bar may be rigidly connected with an oscillatory lever forming a part of a package forming machine.

3. A dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a shaft, a head carried thereby, a rod, a stud engageable with said rod, a clamp pivotally mounted upon saidstud and engaging said shaft, whereby said shaft may be axially adjusted, or angularly adjusted, about a horizontal axis, printing characters carried by said head, a ribbon feed mechanism movable with said shaft and said head, a spacer bar, means adjustably connecting said spacer bar with said rod, and means whereby said bar may be rigidly connected' with an oscillatory lever forming a part of a package forming machine.

4. A dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a shaft, a head carried thereby, a rod, means connecting said shaft to said rod, printing characters carried by said head, a ribbon feed mechanism movable with said st. ft and said head, a spacer bar, a clamp carried by said spacer bar and engaging said rod, whereby said rod may be Vertically adjusted, and means-whereby said bar may be rigidly conne ted with an oscillatory lever forming a part ofa package forming machine. v

5. A dating attachment for packaging-machines embodying therein a shaft, :1. head carried thereby, a rod, a clamp-carried by said rod and engageable with said shaft, whereby said shaft may be axially adjusted, printing characters carried by said head, a ribbon feed mechanism movable with said shaft and said head, a spacer bar, a clamp carried by said spacer bar and engaging said rod, whereby said rod may be vertically adjusted, and means whereby said bar may be rigidly connected with an oscillatory lever forming a part of a package fo ming maehine.

(5. A dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a shaft, a headcarried thereby, a rod, means connecting said shaft to said rod, printing characters carried by said head, a ribbon feed mechanism movable with said shaft and said head, a spacer bar, a clamp carried by and adjustable longitudinally of said spacer bar and engagi g said rod, whereby said rod may be horizontally and vertically adjusted, and means whereby said be may be rigidly connected with an oscillatory lever forming a part of a package forming machine. v

7. A dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a shaft, a head carried thereby, a rod, means connecting said shaft to said rod, printing characters carried by said head, a ribbon feed mechanism movable with said shaft and said head, a spacer bar, a stud adj ustably mor nted to have movement longitudinally and circumferentially of said spacer bar, a clamp p votally mounted upon said stud and engaging said rod, whereby said rod may be adjusted longitudinally of, vertically in relation to, and circumferentially of said spacer bar, and'means whereby said bar may be rigidly connected with an oscillatory lever forming a part of a pack age forming machine.

8. A dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a shaft, a head carried thereby, a rod, a stud engagcable with said rod. a clamp pivotally mounted upon said stud and engaging said shaft, whereby said shaft may be axially adjusted. or align-- larly adjusted, about horizontal axes at l ight angles to each other, printing-characters carried by said head, a ribbon feed mechanism movable with said shaft and. said head, a, spacer bar, a stud adjustably mounted to have movement longitudinally and circumferentially of said spacer bar, a clamp pivotally mounted upon said stud and engaging said rod, whereb said rodmay be adjusted longitudinally o vertically in relation to,

-- and circumferentially of said spacer bar, and

means whereby said bar may be ri idly connected with an oscillatory lever orming a part of a package fgrming machine.

' 9. A dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a head, printing characters carried thereby, a ribbon feed mechanism movable with said head, a spacer bar, means whereby said bar may be rigidly connected with an oscillatory lever forming a part of a package forming machinejand unlversally adjustable means whereby said head is supported by, and receives movement from, said spacer bar, and may be adjusted to locate an impression made thereby at a desired oint upon a box or carton and the force of the printing impact may be controlled.

10. A dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a shaft, a head carried thereby, a rod, means connecting said shaft to said rod, printing characters carried by said head, ribbon spool carriers positioned upon opposite sides of said printing characters, and each including therein a ratchet wheel, the teeth of which ratchet wheels are oppositely set, a carriage slidably mounted u on said shaft, push pawls pivotally mounte upon said-carriage, means normally holding one of said pawls out of the operative relation to the ratchet wheel with which it co-operates, and the other pawl in the opera tive relation to the ratchet wheel with which it co-operates, a spring rod su ported by said carriage, the spring of sai rod normally maintaining one of said pawls in engagement with its co-operating ratchet, means for alternately positioning said awls in the operative relation to said ratc ets, said spring rod being projected beyond said printing elements, whereby said head in making the impression has movement away from said pawls, a spacer bar, means adjustably connecting said spacer bar with said rod, and means whereby said bar may be rigidly connected with an oscillatory lever forming a part of a package forming machine.

11. A dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a shaft, a head carried thereby, a rod, means connecting said shaft to said rod, printing characters carried by said head, ribbon spool carriers positioned upon opposite sides of said printing characters, and each including therein a ratchet wheel, the teeth of which ratchet wheels are oppositely set, a carriage slidably mounted upon said shaft, push pawls pivotally mounted upon said carriage, means normally holding one of said pawls out of the operative relation to the ratchet wheel with which it co-operates, and the other pawl in the opera- Sand pawls, a spacer bar, means adjustably connecting said spacer bar with said rod, and means whereby said bar may be rigidly connected with an oscillatory lever forming a part of a package forming machine.

12. A dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a shaft, a head carried thereby, a rod, means connecting said shaft to said rod, printing characters carried by said head, ribbon spool carriers positioned upon opposite sides of said printing characters, and each including therein a ratchet wheel, the teeth of which ratchet wheels are oppositely set, a carriage slidably mount-ed upon said shaft, push pawls pivotally mounted upon said carriage, means normally holding one of said pawls out of the operative relation to the ratchet wheel with which it cooperates, and the other pawl in the operative relation to the ratchet wheel with which it co-operates, a spring rod supported by said carriage, the spring of said rod normally maintaining one of said pawls in engagement with its co-operating ratchet, each of said pawls having a heel, a spring connecting said heels, a pivotal bar, mounted upon said carriage with its ends in operative relation to said heels, a friction retard device carried riage, normally inoperative means carried by said head adapted to be actuated by the ribbon upon one of said spools, whereby said bar will be automatically actuated to move one of said pawls out of the operative relation to its ratchet wheel and'permit the other pawl to move into the operative relation to its ratchet wheel, said spring rod being projected beyond said printing elements, whereby said head in making the impression has movement away from said pawls, a spacer bar, means adjustably connecting said spacer bar with said, rod, and means whereby said bar may be rigidly connected with an oscillatory lever forming a part of a package forming machine.

13. A dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a shaft, a head carried thereby, a rod, means connecting said shaft to said rod, printing characters carried by said head, ribbon spool carriers positioned upon opposite sides of said printing characby said pivotal bar and engaging said car- I ters, and each including therein a ratchet wheel, the teeth of which ratchet wheels are oppositely set, a carriage slidably mounted upon said shaft, push pawls pivotally mounted upon said carriage, means normally holding one of said pawls out of the operative relation to the ratchet wheel with which it co-operates, and the other pawl in the operative relation to the ratchet wheel with which it co-operates, a spring rod supported by said carriage, the spring of said rod normally maintaining one of said pawls in engagement with its co-operating ratchet, each of said pawls having a heel, a spring connecting said heels, a pivotal bar mounted upon said can riage with its ends in operative relation to said heels, 'a friction retard device carried by said pivotal bar and engaging said carriage, studs carried by said pivotal bar, yieldable thrust members carried by said head, means normally holding said thrust members out of the operative relation to said studs, means carried by each thrust member adapted to be actuated by the ribbon upon a spool for positioning one of said thrust members to automatically actuate said bar and reverse the direction of the ribbon feed, said spring rod being projected beyond said printing elements, whereby said head in making the impression has movement away from said pawls, a spacer bar, means adjustably connecting said spacer bar with said rod, and means whereby said bar may be rigidly connected with an oscillatory lever forming a part of a package forming machine.

14. A dating attachment for packaging machines embodying therein a shaft, a head carried thereby, a rod, means connecting said shaft to said rod, printing characters carried by said head, ribbon spool carriers positioned nected with an oscillatory lever forming a part of a package forming machine.

In witness whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature, this 12th day of May, 1930.,

MAXIMILIAN H. KERN.

upon opposite sides of said printing characters, and each including therein a ratchet wheel, the teeth of which ratchet wheels are oppositely set, a carriage slidably mounted upon said shaft, push pawls pivotally mounted upon said carriage, means normally holding one of said pawls out of the operative relation to the ratchet wheel with which it co-operates, and the other pawl in the operative relation to the ratchet wheel with which it co-operates, a spring rod supported by said carriage, the spring of said rod normally maintaining one of said pawls in engagement with its co-operating rachet, a stop member adjustably mounted upon said shaft in operative relation to the spring of said spring rod, means for alternately positioning said pawls in the operativerelation to said ratchets, said spring rod being projected beyond said printing elements, whereby said head in making the impression has movement away from said pawls, a spacer bar, means adjustably connecting said spacer bar with said rod, and means whereby said bar may be rigidly con- 

